tv Way Too Early With Willie Geist MSNBC July 20, 2012 5:30am-6:00am EDT
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looks suspicious is what we're being told. the numbers, though, as we look at them, are extremely staggering. >> and jace, have you spoken to any witnesses out there? we heard some accounts saying, to your point exactly, we thought, you know, there was a guy dressed up. we heard explosions. in fact, we thought it was part of the film itself until we heard screaming. what else have you heard on the ground from witnesses? >> reporter: it's much of the same. it's that people didn't realize that this wasn't something that the theater might have been doing to really make the movie experience all the better, and it did take people, witnesses tell us, a little while to realize something wasn't right. i did speak to one gentleman who says he was in the very bark row of theater number 9. he got down on the floor and he waited there as long as he could before everybody started leaving the theater very quickly, he says. this is one of those situations where because of the movie that was showing, many people didn't realize that it wasn't part of
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the movie and that it wasn't part of some type of special effect for people who were going to the actual movie. >> jace, what about the suspect? we just heard the police chief in aurora tell us they have someone in custody. what do the police know about him? >> reporter: we don't know anything about him at this point. we just know there's one person in custody. we're being told that all indications are that this person acted by himself. they're still, of course, looking to see if there's somebody else out there, but all indications are, according to the aurora police chief, that this is just one person acting alone. >> and jace, one of the first things that struck our minds here as we watch this is this area is no stranger to mass-casualty shootings. about 19 miles, this mall from littleton, and columbine high school. this area has seen this before, jace. >> reporter: unfortunately, we have. unfortunately, this is something that this community has dealt
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with before. this community has had to go through. and a lot of lessons were learned from columbine and a lot of procedures were changed to make it, just to make emergency personnel be able to respond and get into a situation, into a building much faster. and we don't make a comparison to columbine lightly in this community, because it is something that affected so many people and has left such a lasting impression that it's not something that we easily bring up and talk about, but you're exactly right in that this is something that's been dealt with in this community before. >> sadly, with a report of 14 dead, we can make a comparison. this is a terrible, terrible tragedy out of aurora, colorado. jace larson, we appreciate you checking in with us. we'll be back to you shortly. if you have any new details, please let us know. thank you very much. it's 5:34 in the morning here in new york city, 3:34 aurora,
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colorado, time. so far, aurora, colorado, police chief dan oates tells us 14 dead and at least 50 transported to local hospitals, some of them in "extremely critical condition." ten died on the scene, we're told, four more were taken to hospitals, died. that's 14 dead, 50 transported, some of them in extremely critical condition. local hospitals were alerted to prepare for what they call a mass-casualty incident. this, again, was after a midnight showing of "the dark knight rises" at the century 16 movie theater in the aurora town center. aurora about ten miles, as you can see on the map there, east-northeast of denver. witnesses report hearing small explosions and then screaming in the back of the theater. many claim they thought it was part of the movie until they heard those screams. again, the hospitals were immediately notified. the police say they do have one
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suspect in custody. police chief dan oates saying at a conference call just moments ago they've talked to the man, there was some indication, a preliminary indication, although police say they do not confirm this, that there was explosive device on the scene and in the gunman's residence. police say there is no evidence of a second gunman in this incident. let's go to the news desk now. richard lui is standing by for us there. what else do we know? >> willie, you make a good point. you look at the map and how close aurora, colorado, is to denver, colorado, just east. that could be a saving grace in effect in the work to try to save some lives there. as you said, there are 14 reported dead right now and at least 50 injured and we have some information in terms of where those went. again, during the briefing, they noted where they were sending some of the victims. five victims going to denver hospital, 14 to university
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hospital, three to the hospital in south denver, also two to the hospital in parker and two to swedish medical center and four transported to children's hospital. as you heard in the listing of those hospitals, many in the denver area, or in denver itself. so, that location, aurora, colorado, some 330,000 people. not large, not small, necessarily, but would it have the capacity, as they deal with this tragedy in that town? so, 330,000 people, about 20 miles east of denver. and that showing, that midnight showing, as you just had a discussion with a reporter on the ground, that was the first of some 20 showings they were going to have today. and we all remember those midnight showings. it's hard to believe that this situation tran spired, this tragedy, at the century 16 theater there in aurora. >> richard, you listen to our reporter from kusa, jace larson, paint a picture, and we all see
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it. people dress up for first night of this highly anticipated movie, "the dark knight rises." they wear costumes, they just do. so i guess it doesn't raise eyebrows until he starts shooting. they say it was a masked gunman, perhaps in a gas mask, who opened fire. and you know, these situations, we understand that this particular release, the final release of the batman series, being shown in imax theaters, per naps 3d and others, so those sorts of experiences aren't necessarily immediately what you might think of, because you are used to such real-like environments when we watch such movies. >> we're starting to hear from witnesses, one witness saying he saw a guy slowly making his way up the stairs and firing, picking off random people inside that movie theater 9, that century 16 movie theater in aurora town center. again, if you're just waking up with us, a shooting inside a movie theater at a midnight showing of "the dark knight rises" in aurora, colorado,
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about ten miles east of denver. so far, police telling us 14 dead, 14 dead and at least 50 have been transported to local hospitals, some of them in "extremely critical condition." our initial reports were that ten people have died. we've now learned that four others died on their way to the hospital or upon their arrival at the hospital for a total of 14 dead so far, 50 transported to local hospitals. police chief dan oates in a brief conference call a few moments ago said, yes, we do have a suspect in custody. there is no evidence at this time of a second gunman, but they're not ruling that out. they're taking every precaution, but from all their reports and eyewitness accounts, they're hearing there was, in fact, one gunman on the scene. that gunman reportedly telling police that there may have been explosives as well inside the theater and perhaps even explosives at his residence. police quick to point out they have not confirmed either of those claims made by the suspect just yet. again, this is at the century 16
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movie theater in aurora town center. we talked about it just moments ago with our reporter, jace larson. this is about 19 miles northeast of littleton, colorado. need not remind you of the columbine high school incident that took place there. this is an area all too familiar with mass casualty shootings like this. as jace pointed out to us, emergency services have procedures in place for something because of what happened at columbine. they're prepared to move in quickly, and hopefully, shut this down quickly. but again, not before at least 14 people died and some 50 transported to local hospitals. if we're talking about extremely critical condition, we don't want to make assumptions, but you have to believe there is a chance that number 14 could go up at this time. dozens of police now as you look at these live pictures, of course, on the scene. authorities now, we're being told, evacuating the area while they check on that claim of an
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explosive device in the area. witnesses telling media outlets, we heard anywhere from 10 to 20 shots, little explosions going on. shortly after that, we heard people screaming, then they came on the p.a. system and said everyone needs to get out. as soon as we got out, there were people running around screaming, this witness saying the gunman was, in fact, wearing a gas mask. we want to go now to jim bates. he is with "the denver post." jim, what can you tell us about what you've learned this morning? >> not much more than what you said. we do not know where this apartment building is. we know it's in north aurora. the suspect is in custody, gave the police reason to believe there were explosives in his apartme apartment. and again, there is still -- the police are still out there trying to search through hundreds and hundreds of
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witnesses, trying to sort the people who were in the theater where the shooting was to people who were in the other theaters and they were taking, giving everyone business cards to make sure they didn't question them multiple times. >> jim, what can you tell us about the response to this? we were told the call came some time around 12:30 local time. how quickly were police able to get there? >> i think they were -- i'm not sure about the 12:30 original thing. i think most of the stuff we know about, shortly after 1:00 is when police were on the scene and ambulances were being called. so i'm not sure how much break there was between -- the one thing, the police were on the scene very, very quickly, so i don't know if there was a threat or something like that. >> we heard, jim about some emergency procedures that are, in fact, in place, after what happened at columbine high school, not far away, in
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littleton, colorado. our local reporter at kusa telling us you're never ready for something like this, but they have in that area now quick strike procedures in place to respond to something like this. >> yes. i mean, this is entirely on the other side of the metro area, but it is similar in that it's the suburbs, yes. aurora is probably not quite as affluent as the littleton side was. this is a little more of an urban, older suburban area. more minority. so, a slightly different, even though it's suburban, but yes, all the law enforcement in the whole metropolitan area has worked together in the wake of columbine. >> and do we know anything else about the suspect? you told us about the apartment building in north aurora. how far would that be from the movie theater?
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>> aurora is probably from north to south not much more than 10, 15 miles across, so it would have to be within five to eight miles, i would think. >> within five hiles. and police say now they have evacuated as they look for an explosive device, taking precautions. they say they don't have evidence of an explosive device but that they've gotten a report from the suspect himself that there may have been one inside. >> right. he gave them reason to believe that he had other explosives in his home. >> at home, and in fact, am i hearing right, that he said he put one inside the movie theater as well, that's why they've evacuated? >> they're unconfirmed. smoke bombs and such may have gone off during the initial attack, so there was at least that indication that there was an explosive device. and after that, it was all precautionary. >> okay, jim, we'll let you go do some reporting on this. we'd love to check back with you shortly, let us know if you know anything else. jim bates with "the denver
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post." richard lui, raur hearing anything new? >> looking at the details, what was the breakdown when the incident first happened, 12:30 a.m. local time there, so roughly what, three hours ago, at least, or around three hours ago. and those details that we heard from the briefing, how the gunman was found, you know, in the back of the theater, in a car with a gas mask, a handgun and one additional firearm of some sort. and as they do go to north aurora to the apartment, you bring up, what is it they're looking for? where might there be other explosive devices? one thing they're telling us is the theater has been secured, and we can get a sense of that from the live pictures from the chopper cam. then there is the entire parking lot, which they have secured, but at least from the briefing, as you remember hearing, they continue to secure that area. so, what is it that they're looking for? what is it that they might find?
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and this particular suspect, as we wait to understand more details about who he is and where did he come from, what was his objective, if any, is still out there to be answered. the 14 dead -- and this is what -- you can hear the exasperation during the briefing. when he was mentioning 14 had died, 10 in the theater, 4 in the hospital. so, that concern that i'm sure all of us heard and have at the current time, is the 50 injurld. as they care for them going forward in the coming hours, so crucial as we get the details coming in from aurora, colorado. we can only hope for the best, surely, there willie. >> richard, thank you. let's recap for people just waking up. it's 5:46 in the morning here in new york city, 3:46 a.m. aurora, colorado, time, where a masked gunman, police say, walked into a movie theater some time after midnight at one of the first showings of the new film "the dark knight rises" dressed in
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some sort of costume, disguise, and a gas mask, and began opening fire, it looks like randomly. so far, according to police chief dan oates, 14 dead, at least 50 have been transported to area hospitals, some of them in extremely critical condition. so that death toll could rise. again, we've talked about explosives that the suspect is in custody, telling police about a possible explosive in the movie theater and possible explosive at his home. police quick to point out they have no evidence of that yet. we have not found that yet, but they have evacuated the building and sealed off that area as they look for any kind of device. local hospitals were alerted some time around 1:00 in the morning local time, just about three hours ago. arriving on the scene, told hospitals to prepare for a "mass casualty incident," and that's precisely what we have here with 14 people dead. that number could rise with 50
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transported to local hospitals. aurora, colorado, is a suburb of denver, about ten miles east. and as many people have pointed out this morning, not too far from littleton, colorado, where on april 20th, 1999, they had a mass casualty shooting of their own, as you all know. the suspect, again, is in custody. police say no evidence of a second gunman, but they're taking every precaution. they want to make sure they get everybody together that they can on the scene. they're interviewing really tens and hundreds of witnesses at this point. you heard a reporter from "the denver post" telling us they're giving out business cards to make sure they don't reinterview people. there are so many people on the scene. they want to know what they've heard. some of the eyewitness accounts we've heard, talking to media outlets, witnesses saying they heard anywhere from 10 to 20 shots and little explosions going on. shortly after that, they heard people screaming. they came on the p.a. system and said everybody needed to get out. that's a quote from one of the
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witnesses inside theater 9. we have a sound bite now from our affiliate kusa of one of the witnesses. >> you said you were in an adjoining theater and he actually came into that theater as well? >> yeah, apparently, a minute or two after we had evacuated, he came into that theater and was shooting in that theater as well for any stragglers that may have still been in that theater it was chaotic, like something you would see in a movie it was just surreal. nobody could really believe what was happening. a girl came up to us shortly before the alarm went off saying somebody was shooting in the lobby, and shortly after that, the alarm went off and everybody evacuated. >> reporter: wow. that's amazing. after you had evacuated, what did you see outside? what were people saying who may have been shot? >> three people ran up to us as we were driving, they ran in front of our vehicle and one of them stopped us and said that there was a gunman who was
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setting off bombs and shooting people. apparently, he had just run into the theaters and was just, you know, shooting people. he wasn't giving anybody a chance to get out. i mean, people were saying that this was a terrorist attack. i'm not sure if that was the case, but it sure sounds like it. >> an eyewitness account from inside the theater, that from our affiliate kusa. police chief dan oates there in aurora, colorado, saying the gunman actually stood in the front of theater number 9 at the century 16 theaters at the aurora mall, walked up to the front, turned and faced the audience. witnesses tell us, says the police chief, the man released a canister, they heard a hissing sound, some gas emerged, perhaps a smoke bomb, and the gunman began opening fire at random. again, the suspect is in custody. no evidence of any additional shooters at this time and no immediate word of motive. but of course, police are still working through all of that. again, if you're just waking up, there are 14 dead at this moment, but that number could go
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up, as we're told at least 50 have been transported to area hospitals, some of them in "extremely critical condition." you go down the list of hospitals, they're triaging people. we're hearing about a lot of people coming in in critical condition. we don't want to put a number on it, but 50 at least have been transported to area hospitals. for a man who walked in after a midnight showing of "the dark knight rised," this was a highly anticipated, much talked about premiere of the film, midnight showings to kick off what was to be a big weekend for the film, at the century 16 movie theater in aurora, colorado, ten miles east of denver. a man walked in, reportedly in costume, reportedly wearing a gas mask, which makes more sense now that we get the report from the police chief, that there was some kind of a canister, perhaps tear gas released inside that movie theater, and he started opening fire. many of the witnesses say he walked up the stairs, appearing
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to fire completely at random. that suspect has been arrested. but again, 14 people are dead, at least 50 transported to local area hospitals. the suspect in custody. no evidence of a second gunman at this time. the calls came in some time after 12:30, perhaps closer to 1:00 in the morning. and hospitals were alerted that they needed to prepare for a "mass casualty incident." and tragically, that is what we have here today. let's go back over to the news desk briefly, if we could, then check in with richard lui as we look at these live pictures out of aurora, colorado. >> willie, the scene is certainly still developing, as we do look at these live chopper cam pictures, local time there, moving in on the hour of 4:00 a.m. over three hours ago it happened. and as you were noting, dozens of police on site as well as one suspect now in custody, according to what we're hearing. this sort of incident, as we try
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to draw some understanding to it, looking back to recent incidences that may be similar to this. unfortunately, there are reports and incidences that have happened similar to this. oakland had a movie theater on july 10th, 2012, so that's not too long ago. there was an argument between people there at one of the multiplexes in oakland's jack london square. that erupted in gunfire, and unfortunately, that also resulted in injuries as the two groups there were fighting. there was also an incident in 2010. that happened in the philadelphia area at the penn movie theater. so, these sorts of incidences, you don't think of it when you go to a theater, certainly. century 16 there in aurora, colorado, a town of 330,000 people, roughly. a midnight showing, which is certainly part of a summer americana. you dress up to the movie that you want to see, a movie that, as you were saying, is much
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anticipated, this final installation of the batman series, and expecting to kick off what would be 20, 21 showings throughout july 20th, its premiere day. so, this situation as they turn to july 20th, 2012, an incident that, unfortunately, when people wake up in colorado, in aurora, colorado, will have to face. >> all right, richard, thank you. imagine the scene as you paint it there. you're sitting in the movie theater. and from what we're hearing from witnesses is everybody's in costume. a lot of them thought these sounds and bullets were part of the film. they talked about people in the theaters on either side of the one where the incident took place saying they thought it was just a loud movie in the next theater. it wasn't until they heard the screams, in fact, that they realized something had gone terribly wrong. and in fact, 14 people dead at this moment, at least 50 transported to local hospitals, some of them in critical condition. all that according to aurora,
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colorado, police chief dan oates. i believe we have another sound bite from a witness from our affiliate kusa. let's listen. >> it sounded like madness to me. she said that a man about 6 feet tall, taller than her, kicked through the door, and he was in, she said a riot helmet. she said he had a bullet-proof vest on, you know. she said that he was completely covered in all black with goggles. and she said that after that point, when she saw that he was holding a shotgun, her and her boyfriend dropped to the floor and just kind of started to crawl to see if they could get away why she turned around, all she saw was the guy slowly making his way up the stairs and just firing. >> so, you hear there eyewitness accounts of that horrific scene, as we go back and look at the overhead shot of the movie
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theater in aurora, colorado. that's the century 16 movie theater at the aurora town mall, a suburb of denver. witnesses heard explosions and screaming. many of them thought it was part of the movie on a big night for "the dark knight rises." if you're just waking up with us, a few minutes before 6:00 on the east coast, a few minutes before 4:00 in the morning in aurora, colorado, where tragedy has stricken. 14 people are dead in a shooting inside that movie theater. at least 50 transported to local hospitals, some of them in critical condition. that's the most recent information we have from local police. our initial reports were that ten had died. and in a span of 15, 20 minutes, we learned that four of the people believed injured were dead. so, with many of the 50 transported in critical condition, some of them in "extremely critical condition," we wouldn't be surprised if the death toll rose from that number of 14. a suspect is in custody. a man was arrested there. no evidence, police say, of a
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second gunman, but they're taking every precaution. the man alluded to some kind of explosive device inside the theater. he alluded to an explosive device at his home in north aurora, colorado. police stress, there is no evidence of that yet, although they have evacuated the movie theater, of course, locked it down, and now looking for any sign of an explosive device. richard lui has a little bit more information. richard? >> willie, as you were playing some sound of one of the witnesses, this is what the dozens of police officers are doing right now, as you and i both know, as they try to call the information from those unfortunate enough to either be in the theater, be around the theater area, and now have to recount what was a horrifying incident that had happened at 12:30 a.m. local time, at about three hours ago. and some of the witnesses that have been able to speak with not only law enforcement officers, but as well as other journalists in the area, one telling cnn that they had heard from 10 to
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20 shots and little explosions going on. then a witness also said shortly after what they had heard was people screaming, and as you were noting earlier, they came on the p.a. system and said everyone needed to get out. so, this witness saying 10 to 20 shots that they had heard, that he or she had heard after the movie had begun, or during that process of them moving into the movie theater. so, as they go through and meet and try to get information from all of these witnesses that are in the area and police officers, as they've moved in their units, you can see in the live pictures, that's what we'll see develop in the coming hours as the sun begins to rise not too long from here. so willie, that's the latest we're seeing right now, the information. they're saying, as we heard from the reports, they don't have a lot of information. they're trying to get the most they can as they move forward. their big concern, as you noted, was getting the injured to the
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hospitals, those area hospitals. and just to recap for those who may be just joining us, they had sent four of the injured to children's hospital in the area, they sent five victims to denver hospital. they sent 14 to university hospital, three to south denver, two to the hospital in parker and two to swedish medical center. and the 14 that were reported dead, 10 who died in the theater, 4 in the hospital, and of course, that indicates to you how urgent it is to get all of these injured to medical assistance and help as quickly as they can, willie. >> all right, richard lui reporting for us there. thank you so much, richard. we want to swing it now down to washington. joe scarborough and mika brzezkinski down there for "morning joe." guys, this is a terrible thing to wake up to this morning. >> no doubt about it and i'm sure americans are going to be waking up shocked over the next several hours to what you've been talking about. i'd like to welcome everyone to "morning joe." with us this morning, political
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editor and white house correspondent for "the huffington post," sam stein. we've got senior national correspondent for bloomberg business week, joshua green, and nbc news capitol correspondent kellyyork, of course, willie geist. we also have msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin, willie has been following this breaking news story over the past 30 minutes and we will -- let me -- willie, let's go back to you. a lot to talk about this morning on syria, the latest in the campaign as well, but why don't you get everybody up to date who's just tuning in this morning to what happened in colorado. >> for people just waking up at 6:00 in the morning tuning in to "morning joe," you're looking at pictures of aurora, colorado, where it's 4:00 in the morning. police there in aurora say a man in costume walked in at a midnight showing of "the dark knight rises" at the century 16 movie theater at the aurora town center mall, walked to the front of the theater wearing a gas mask, witnesses say, dropped
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some kind of a canister, perhaps a smoke bomb or tear gas and began opening fire at random. witnesses say he walked up the stairs, shooting people. what we know now according to police, 14 people are dead, at least 50 have been transported to area hospitals. a number of different hospitals who were warned to prepare for a, quote, mass casualty incident. police saying that some of those 50 in extremely critical condition. in fact, when we first went on the air, the report was that ten people had been killed and in the span of a few minutes police raised that number to 14. 14 people dead, at least 50 injured. when you hear about these reports of extremely critical condition, it's probably safe to assume the number 14 will go up from there. a suspect is in custody. they have no evidence of a second gunman. they've locked down the movie theater because the gunman made some indication to police he put an explosive device inside the movie theater and he
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